Well, I’m here. Somewhere in the Black Hills near Deadwood. On a job, a rare one that takes me so far from home. One that lasts all day (14+ hours) for about five days but leaves downtime in the late evenings and early mornings provided I don’t oversleep, which isn’t a problem for me on an unfamiliar bed. That leaves some uninterrupted time to brainstorm and write.

We’re close to Mount Rushmore, and we’re hoping we can visit if we get our work wrapped up in time. Where I really want to go, though, is Black Hills National Cemetery. One of my wife’s uncles is there, buried alongside his wife. He served in Vietnam, then went on to become a clinical psychologist to help veterans and first responders. He spent the majority of his career working at the Veterans Hospital in Fort Meade, and then with the police and sheriffs’ departments in and around Rapid City. He died in 2019, with his wife following him just this year, back in June. I don’t care if I see anything else while we’re here, so long as I can pay my respects to them both.

Anyway, thank you for indulging me in that. I have veteran family on both sides that did their jobs, did them well, and didn’t want to be in the limelight. But, they all deserve a little bit of that limelight, in recognition of their deeds and their valor, both in the time they served and in the lives they led afterwards.

Now, on to some Three Ravens news!

It Came From the Trailer Park Authors List Announcement

The next It Came From the Trailer Park anthology submissions period has come and gone. As always, we received a tremendous number of entries, many of them fantastic. As is always the case, we have to sometimes turn away great submissions because we only have so much room in each volume. 

Here are the story titles and authors for It Came From the Trailer Park, Volume 6:

• “Jolene in the Green Fields” by Fred Phillips
• “Shine vs. Slime” by Rodney Hatfield Jr.
• “The Cross” by Christopher Collins
• “Dustin Finds His Green Thumb” by Joshua Ladd
• “Catch of the Day” by Jacob Seinemeier
• “The Legendary Gulp” by J. VanZile
• “Dr. Jimmy and Mr. Hicks” by Lee Ellis
• “Don’t Feed the Sasquatch” by Reggi Broach
• “Answered Prayers” by Kim M. Schoeffel
• “Illegal Aliens” by Michael LaVoice

Look forward to reading them in October! You will not be disappointed!

And if you are interested in reading the other volumes, head over to Amazon and see the list!

Turning Rejection into Victory

For those who did not make the final cut, there are often many reasons at play here and not all of them are “Your story wasn’t good enough.” That certainly can be true, even among writers with many published stories under their belts. Sometimes the story didn’t quite match the theme, or the competition was just too fierce.

I’ve very recently experienced that with several short stories I’ve written over the last year or so. A couple of them have earned Silver Honorable Mentions in the Writers of the Future competition, but none have “landed” in a publication. So, in that sense, they’ve failed through rejection, at contests I’d been aiming for and with publishers during subsequent submissions.

But they’ve also taught me a lot. Each short story has helped hone a particular skill that is paying dividends in the drafting of my first Necrolopolis novel, Shield of Souls. Each one has ended up better than the previous in different ways. And those Silver Honorable Mentions have shown me that I’m capable of writing something that reaches readers and judges, even if the competition edges it out in the end. Ending up in the top 3% of submissions is a win, to me. That’s validating, and it has weight.

Where I really learn, though—and where I’d recommend any short story writer to submit to—is a quarterly contest called On The Premises. Their most recent contest has ended and the ten finalists have been chosen. I was not one of those ten. There’s no entry fee, but for $15 the editors and judges will give you a 2-3 page in-depth analysis of what worked and what didn’t work. It is well worth your money, and has been any time I’ve utilized it. This submission was no exception. I learned so much from it, and can’t wait to apply what I learned to the short story I’m currently drafting and in the revision stage of Shield of Souls when I get there. 

You’re not alone in this journey towards writing mastery! We’re all there with you, as apprentices and journeymen. Some behind us on the path, some ahead of us, some walking right alongside us. Let’s be there for each other, shore one another up in loss, and lift one another up in victory. To brighter days, and stories that pay!